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Columbia hit a high of 98 degrees Tuesday, tying with a 129-year-old city temperature record that was set in 1893.
Jon Carney, meteorologist with National Weather Service in St. Louis, said that Columbia also hit 98 degrees in 1918 and 1991. In the past 104 years, Columbia met the temperature record just three times.
"Obviously, it's a very old record," Carney said. "This doesn't happen very often."
Columbia wasn't the only Missouri city to meet a temperature record on Tuesday. St. Louis' daily temperature Tuesday tied with a 2017 record of 97 degrees.
3:00 PM status of our records:St. Louis: tied at 97°F (record set in 2017)Columbia: tied at 98°F (record set in 1893)Quincy: 94°F (record of 95°F set in 1940) https://t.co/JYmfNICZES
Carney said that it's not unusual for record highs to be in Columbia and St. Louis on the same day and same year, since both regions experience the same weather systems simultaneously.
A main cause for these high temperatures are ridges, or sinking air systems. As air sinks, it gets compressed. Compressing the air heats it up, Carney said.
"This was caused by a large ridge of high pressure in the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere, and that ridge has moved east across the continent to our area, bringing high temperatures with it," Carney said.
The National Weather Service obtains Columbia's official temperature records from a designated sensor located in the city. In 1893, Columbia's sensor was located on the MU campus. Today, it resides at the Columbia Regional Airport.
Cooler temperatures are expected by Thursday, with possible rain Wednesday night.
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